Introduction

Chaintech company is a good
example of a good strategy. The victories of 6LTM and 6BTM boards in the
comparative reviews in the middle of 1998 gave a start to the great success
of system boards under this trade mark. And though the ways of testing
and estimating criteria differed from what we have now, nevertheless the
success of the given boards was rather deserved. In that time the market
was not so packed yet as it is now, and many looked for the alternative
to the boards from ASUS comparable on quality and possibilities but with
lower price. ChainTech has successfully taken this authoritative niche
and continues to hold it till now.

As for packing cards the real necessity to change ''the
clothing'' for the motherboards takes place. The old one didn't look nice
and became annoying during the last two years. We are glad to present
you the exclusive photos of new boxes for the system boards from ChainTech.

Now it will be packed into two sorts of boxes - one with
the trade mark "Intel Chipset Inside" and another with "VIA
Chipset Inside". It is obvious that the new design looks rather advantageously
compared to previous one. Probably the given marketing course will allow
the company to occupy the larger part of the market - then let's wish
it good luck.

Now we shall examine the last ChainTech motherboard on the
VIA chipset KT133. The chipset deserves the definite notice, therefore
we shall examine it more in detail.

At present AMD processors become more popular, they demonstrate
the large performance at the smaller price in matching with competing
Intel hardware products - this fact is not challenged by anybody. In this
case the system boards for AMD processors is a weak place, because at
the higher price it provided the worse possibilities and stability. VIA
having now the leading position in the market of chipsets for AMD decided
to correct the situation, and at the moment KT133 chipset for Socket-A
processors being the logic continuation of KX133 can be considered as
the best not only among AMD chipsets but among all chipsets represented
now in the market.

Let's try to clear up why it is so. Naturally it is not
absolutely correct to compare chipsets for different processors, but nevertheless
we shall do it.

In the case with KT133 we won't speak about speed disadvantages
of the chipsets from VIA relative to Intel - it is reasonable only to
estimate all system performance. Intel 815 chipset together with CuMine
processor loses in performance KT133 chipset together with ThunderBird
processor of the same clock rate, and the opposition Celeron - Duron is
destructive for Intel. However it is impossible to find out if it helps
the processor to achieve the given performance or on the contrary retard
it. So not to upset anybody we shall let us consider that the abstract
performance in parrots for i815 and KT133 chipsets is approximately at
the same level, but the processors from AMD by the architectural features
are a little faster. It is necessary to repeat that the given matching
is not lawful and only allows to reduce the chipsets performance to the
common denominator.

Thus it is impossible to accuse the chipset in the lack
of rate as it usually happens with VIA chipset for Intel processors. Let's
try to criticise possibilities. In this area the chipset KT133 is the
standard before the appearance of the chipsets with support DDR memory.
It doesn't have all weak places of the main competitor - i815. Let's mention
the main of them.

The chipset i815 supports not more than 512 MBytes of memory
whereas KT133 - up to 2 GBytes PC100 memory in 4 slots or up to 1,5 GBytes
PC133 in 3 slots. The chipset i815 allows to clock the memory on 133 Mhz
only in the case if the processor bus frequency is 133 Mhz, but KT133
allows to install the memory frequency HOST Frequency - equal to the processor
bus frequency, and HOST+33 - i.e. the processor bus frequency plus 33
Mhz. At the bus frequency by default in 100 Mhz the resulting memory frequency
133 Mhz. On i815 having the processor with the bus frequency 100 Mhz you
shouldn't plan for the memory operation on the frequency 133 Mhz it is
not necessary. For many users ISA support is important, but in i815 it
is not present.

The only advantage of i815 is UltraDMA100 support in the
new southern bridge. But the advancing here is rather insignificant -
VIA has already began the delivery of the refreshed southern bridge 686B
with the support of the given protocol. It is possible not to take into
account at all the fact that Intel advances CNR instead of more limited
on possibilities AMR because they both are useless. Thus KT133 possibilities
are great.

As for the boards on two competing chipsets operation stability
VIA is unachievable here. The manufacturers of the boards on i815 will
have to work on the development of their products BIOS, and the boards
operation on KT133 does not cause serious remarks.

As for the prices for the system boards the difference in
prices on hardware products on chipsets KT133 and i815 from one manufacturer
is 20 dollars for the benefit of VIA. Together with the cheaper processor
from AMD you can save a lot of money. I did not mention the built-in video
while matching chipsets possibilities on purpose: it can't change the
situation because of its horrifying performance.

Thus it is possible to consider that Intel lost the round
of the battle before the issue of the new generation chipsets. Though
it is not strange because it is limited by Rambus ...

However we shall return to the board which we had in our
laboratory. Chaintech 7AJA on the chipset KT133 for Socket-A confirms
VIA leading position and has the unique features added by the company
ChainTech.

One port for FDD, two sequential and one parallel ports, ports
for PS/2 mouse and keyboard

Four built in ports USB

Optional riser for two ports USB

Integrated IDE controller

2 channels IDE with support up to 4 ATAPI-device

Support of all modes including UltraDMA66

Support UltraDMA100 at usage VIA 686B South Bridge

sound subsystem

Integrated in the South Bridge audiocontroller with external
AC' by 97 codec

Optional external 4 channels sound controller CMedia 8738

BIOS

2 Mbits Flash EEPROM

Award BIOS with support Enhanced ACPI, DMI, APM, PnP

Technology BIOS Wonder including ChipAway Virus, BIOS protection
from wearing, built in utility for wearing new versions BIOS without
the system load, built in utility for hard disk restoration.

Optional technology TwinBIOS - two microcircuits BIOS on a board

Miscellanea

STR (Suspend to RAM)

Hardware monitoring

Waking up from the modem, mouse, network and timing controller

Optional possibility of the processor factor forced change.

The board is delivered in the blue box of the new design
described above, only the polygraph is changed. The box size, cardboard
and all the rest including the sticker with the brief description and
the serial number remained the former.

The delivery package contains the system board, FDD and
80-conductor IDE cables, the compact disk with drivers and the user's
guide in English. As for the compact disk Chaintech continues to widen
the set of programs which can be needed for the system board users: Trend
PC - cillin, Norton Anti-Virus, Appio, X-Stop and ActiveShare and also
utility of a monitoring Shepherd2000 are represented on the disk. The
guide pleased with the balanced contents and upset with poor photos. Though
the last can be explained by the changed design and the version we got
was pilot.

The board

I would like to pay attention
to the fact that a lot of manufacturers began to vary the availability
of one or two BIOS, the ways of sound realisation - AC'97 codec or the
sound controller on the board, and also the board complete set - availability
or absence of two additional USB ports in one model. Naturally it is convenient
for the computer manufacturers which do not want to overpay for the additional
improvements. But an ordinary user can be deceived: purchasing the board
and looking to the certain advantages such as the second BIOS he can find
out that they are not present at all. We had two boards Chaintech 7AJA.
One of them was "Limited Edition"- the complete version with
two BIOS and CMedia sound controller with the possibility of variation
the processor muliplier. The second one was with one BIOS and AC'97 codec.

How to distinguish boards at purchasing? The availability
of TwinBIOS and sound from CMedia can be found out by the sticker on the
box, but to find out whether there are any switches for the processor
factor variation it is necessary to get the board from the box.

Running forwards we should point out that there is no fundamental
difference in performance and operation stability between two variants
of the board.

The board is made in Standard ATX format with the dimensions
30,5 cm x 22 cm. Thus the board installation in any ATX body should not
cause any difficulties.

As far as the processors from AMD demand more effective
voltage supply regulators than their competitors from Intel, they contain
11 capacitors of rather high capacities - 2200uF. Under the manufacturer
announcement the board can provide 40A current at 1.6 B voltage. According
to the specification "AMD
Athlon Processor Module Data Sheet" Athlon Model 4 i.e. Thunderbird
by frequency 1 GHz consumes about 55 watts that is demanded for the current
33,6A normal operation. This is a rather good store for those who are
going to use 1 GHz and faster processors on this system board.

Because of the said above the stability of the given board
didn't cause any remarks. 24 hours of testing under the head of Windows
NT revealed only the insignificant lagging from the standard EPoX EP-8KTA
board on the same chipset passed all the tests without any failure.

4 DIP-switches are installed on the board, one of them is
responsible for the possibility of the processor muliplier variation.
It is marked as SW4. It is not present on the facilitated model of the
board, and its description is not present in the user's guide. The sheet
with the sign "Manual Amendment" is applied separately. It adds
some corrections to the guide. SW4 and its installation correspondence
to the processor factor is described in it, but we shall examine it in
the unit "Overclocking".

But the other three DIP - SW1, SW2 and SW3 are described
in the instruction as " reserved by the manufacturer " and it
is strictly forbidden to change their installations. The experiments on
switching led to the system refusing to start. Neither return to the starting
position nor CMOS unset could revive the board. Only SW4 availability
saved the situation - the board was revived by the forced installation
of the fixed multiplication coefficient. On the facilitated variant of
the board as it was already mentioned the switch SW4 is not present, and
the change of installations SW1-SW3 can lead to unreversible aftermath.

Probably the possibility of the forced change voltage given
on the processor core, chipset and memory will appear on the later chip
versions with the help SW1-SW3.

AMD processors finally and fast removed from cartridges
in PGA packing, therefore it is not wonderful that Socket-462 processor
plug more known as Socket-A is applied on the board 7AJA. Its disposal
on the board is ideal: the side where the cooler is latched faces the
left edge of the board that allows completely easy to take out and to
install heat sinks with the most hard fixture without risk to damage something.
Probably the increased fixture force gave the idea of so nonconventional
orientation of the socket on the board. The installation of large heat
sinks such as Golden Orb doesn't need hard efforts - the capacitors are
providently removed from the socket on the safe distance.

Chaintech 7AJA board has one AGP slot, five PCI slots supporting
Bus Mastering and also one ISA slot shared with the last PCI and rather
unnecessary AMR slot. The availability of AMR slot to the detriment of
PCI is a rather disputable decision, but the shared ISA does not restrain
PCI rights and for the owners of old models it will be one more addition
in favour of VIA in the argument between KT133 and i815.

The common board design doesn't cause any remarks. The power
supply connector posed almost in the middle of the board can seem inconvenient,
but such position meets to standard design and does not cause inconveniences
at operation. The external plugs of bright colours meet to PC99 specification
which aim is to facilitate the peripherals. Some free places on the board
are the result of unification PCB with the board 7AJV operating North
Bridge with the built-in video Savage4 which is compatible on contacts
to KT133 North Bridge.

On the board there are three DIMM slots, so the maximum
memory size supported by the board is 1,5 GBytes. Such memory quantity
is enough for any needs, therefore the lack of the fourth slot is not
supposed to be a disadvantage.

The availability of the perfect CMedia 8738 sound controller
on the board allows to get a quite good audio subsystem practically free
of charge. From the fundamental possibilities it is necessary to mark
the availability of 64-voice table synthesis, support Creative EAX and
Aureal A3D API, and also the possibility of connection the second couple
of columns. Moreover there is S/PDIF digital interface support which connector
is present on the board. Unfortunately the system board with connection
plug doesn't contain the delivery package.

The most interesting board features are connected with the
board BIOS. It seems that Chaintech engineers are fond of the idea of
saving BIOS from every possible attack though it is favourable for us.
The whole hardware-software complex 3BIOS was created to win buyers and
then to facilitate the owners life.

The hardware consists in two BIOS microcircuits application
on the system board and is named TwinBIOS. At failure of one microcircuit
contents there is a possibility of load from the second, and the realisation
of the given possibility is rather interesting. At usual switching on
the system BIOS number 1 is used, and if at pushing the button Power to
hold the button Reset, BIOS number 2 will be used.

If both microcircuits content is serviceable, it is possible
to choose what microcircuit to use for the load in BIOS configuration.

The program part consists of built-in in BIOS programs -
Flash Utility and HDD Instant Recovery Utility. The first allows to flash
BIOS new versions without usage any additional means: it is enough only
to have a diskette with the new version. And TwinBIOS technology is entirely
supported by the program: BIOS number 1 can be flashed both from a diskette
and from number 2, but standby BIOS number 2 - only from a diskette. Such
a range of possibilities allows to experiment with new versions without
any risks to damage the system.

The second utility allows to organise the data saving with
the help of disk contents doubling or data copying on another disk and
also gives the possibility to conduct the disk defragmentation. All this
is fulfilled without any operating system load. The practical value of
the given utility appears in such situation: the price difference between
for example 8 and 15 GBytes hard disk is rather insignificant and many
can overpay it if only their data doesn't suffer. Thus the technology
of data doubling on the same disk which seems to be strange will find
the fans and widen the market of ChainTech production.

BIOS is based on Award Medallion BIOS v6.0 and has a lot
of different configurations. I would like to mark so necessary functions
as the forced IRQ allocation on PCI slots and maximum detailed configuration
of memory timings.

Hardware monitoring is carried out by means of South Bridge
which has the standard possibilities described in lots of articles. As
well as on the rest of Chaintech boards the processor temperature is taken
out from the thermosensor situated in the centre of the processor slot
that does not provide the indications accuracy.

The two red light diodes are situated near DIP-switch SW4
changing the multipy by force. One of them should probably signal about
voltage feed on DIMM slots however really is switched on together with
the system switching on and the second - about the activating of variation
factor function. Let's light this diode and we shall see what our Thunderbird
suits for.

Overclocking

Chaintech overclocking policy
is rather strange: the boards on VIA chipsets grant rather quite good
possibilities but the boards on Intel chipsets do not 7AJA board continues
a famous tradition - Chaintech pays more attention to overclocking fans.

FSB frequency set not only is too big for the board with
the EV6 bus, but some frequencies cause puzzle. BIOS Set-up allows to
install the following frequencies: 100, 102, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109,
110, 112, 114, 116, 120 at the divider PCI 3/1, and 120, 124, 127, 130,
133, 140, 145, 150, 155, 160 at the divider PCI 4/1, however only frequencies
up to 116 MHz are profitable. At usage Thunderbird 700 test processor
the operation system stability disappeared at exceeding 108 MHz that is
756 MHz for the processor.

It is obvious that the processor operational life on overclocking
is much bigger - and here SW4 permitting to change the processor muliplier
at range from x5 up to x12,5 is saving. Thus no tracks on the processor
were shaded and nothing was effected with the processor. Thus it was possible
to achieve the stable system operation at the processor frequency 850
MHz, and at 900 MHz the system was not loaded. FSB frequency change can
help to add something. At frequency 102 MHz that is 866 MHz the system
kept stability. It would be possible to achieve the additional overclocking
at the availability of the processor core voltage regulation and the circuits
input / output on the board but they unfortunately are absent. However
we can hope that in new board versions this possibility will be present,
and then the board confidently will take the high place in the nomination
" The choice of an overclocker ".

Generally speaking the increase by 23% is rather small,
but unfortunately there is no possibility to compare the same processor
overclocking on 7AJA and other boards to the possibility of factor variation.

The situation is rather complex - we shall try to make a
conclusion. In SysMark the board performance is at the level of analogs,
but in game applications the results spread is rather significant. The
most probable cause is not optimized for speed BIOS, though BIOS stability
didn't cause any remarks. New version has not changed the results, so
we shall wait for the following versions - Chaintech was always famous
for getting maximum performance from the board.

Conclusion

So Chaintech has got a rather
worthy board which will undoubtedly find a big contingent of buyers, and
among them there will be overclockers, people presenting increased requirements
to information safety and just those who want to have products of excellent
quality not overpaying.